Seeking more paid subscribers, NYT trims number of free online articles
NEW YORK: The New York Times (NYT), seeking to amass more paid subscriptions in an era of non-stop, must-read headlines, is halving the number of articles available for free each month.
Starting last Friday, most nonsubscribers will only be able to read five articles rather than 10 before they’re asked to start paying. It’s the first change to the paywall in five years.
A basic NYT subscription, with unlimited access to the website and all news apps, is US$15 (RM61.35) every four weeks.
Scoops on President Donald Trump administration’s scandals and sexual-harassment allegations in Hollywood have already contributed to a surge in subscriptions, which jumped 60 per cent in September from a year earlier to 2.5 million.
With demand for journalism “at an all-time high”, the NYT decided this was the right moment to experiment with giving away less online content for free, said Meredith Kopit Levien, New York Times Co’s executive vice-president and chief operating officer.
“It’s a very hot news cycle,” said Levien. “We think it’s as good conditions as any to demonstrate to people that high-quality journalism is something to be paid for.”
As Facebook and Google capture a growing share of the online advertising market, publishers from the NYT to Conde Nast are trying to shift their digital businesses from selling ads to persuading readers to pay for their journalism.
Fuelled in part by demand for news about Trump, the NYT’s subscription business has thrived in the past year.
It added 154,000 digital-only subscriptions last quarter, a 14 per cent increase in new customers from a year earlier, though many signed up through promotional deals and may leave when regular rates kick in.
The subscriber boost has led to a surge in Times Co shares, which are up 41 per cent this year.
But enticing casual readers to open their wallets raises a tricky question: Just how many free articles do you let them sample before requiring them to sign up?
The decision comes with trade-offs. By reducing the number of free articles, the NYT will likely see a drop in traffic at the website, which could hurt ad revenue.
Levien said tightening the paywall would have a “modest impact” on its digital advertising business, which increased 11 per cent last quarter from a year earlier.
The increase failed to offset the continued decline in print ad sales, which fell 20 per cent.
The potential decline in traffic was worth the risk, she said, if it led to more people signing up. Most of the pageviews came from paying digital subscribers, she said.